The Geometry of Holding Hands by Alexander McCall Smith

 I accidentally seem to be on an Alexander McCall Smith binge this week, mostly based on what was available at the library. I just finished the new Isabel Dalhousie novel, The Geometry of Holding Hands. For those who are new to this series, Isabel is a philosopher and editor in Scotland, married to musician Jamie and mother of two rambunctious boys. In this episode, Isabel gets asked to serve as executor of the estate of a dying man she doesn't even know, which she finds a tad stressful. It turns out that one of the possible heirs is someone she met in the past--and doesn't really trust. Then she gets sucked into her niece Cat's latest chaos. Cat, who has unbelievably bad taste in men, is involved with a guy named Leo. When she announces her engagement to Leo, both Isabel and Jamie are concerned because they think Leo is really just interested in Cat's trust fund. And they're not quite sure what to do because Cat says she's happy.

Nothing much happens in these books but they're enjoyable to read, with a likable recurring cast of characters--Isabel and Jamie, their housekeeper Grace (who is a big conspiracy theory nut), and Eddie, the fragile soul who works at Cat's deli.